


Saving Commander Reyes

by SomberCitizen



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, idk - Freeform, violence happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 17:26:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13058685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomberCitizen/pseuds/SomberCitizen





	Saving Commander Reyes

_ “Hostiles on your six, boss!” _

 

“How many?” he barely got to hear the answer, before he felt a sharp pain his neck. A cold wave shot through his body as every muscle stiffened for a moment, before loosening up again, him dropping his weapons, legs giving out and his head painfully colliding with the ground. He was still conscious able to see everything clearly but no matter what he tried he couldn’t force his mouth open to speak. A redhaired woman in a long white coat walked over to him. He knew it was her, his target for this entire mission. He could see her lips moving, but the sound of blood rushing and the wild thumping of his heart filled his ears. She knelt down to look at him, a hand extending to grab his chestplate and pull him upwards. 

 

He’d seen her once before, her and another woman had gotten too close to offing Lyudmila during a mission. She smiled, taking out a silky white handkerchief and wiping off some mud from his face, before turning around to give her lackeys some orders. The last thing he saw, before losing consciousness, was someone taking out his earpiece and putting a black bag over his head.

 

_ “Boss! Boss! Commander Reyes!” _ Aleks’ voice kept screaming over the commlink, before the red haired woman’s boot smashed it into pieces, a faint buzz coming from it as it died down.

  
  


“God dammit, Reyes.” Lyudmila kicked the broken earpiece into a small patch of grass. Aleks had alerted them to the attack almost immediately, but by the time they had reached the spot where Gabriel had went to scout, everyone was already gone. “What else did you hear?”

 

_ “They said they were taking him to the bunker. The woman needed him for something.” _

 

“I’m going.” Malik said, before anyone could speak up, turning on his heels towards the camp in the distance.

 

“The fuck you are, get back here!” Lyudmila called after him, the sudden raise of the usually quiet sniper’s voice jolting him and the rest of the team. He slowly turned around, staring up at her. “What’s your plan?”

 

“I..”

 

“Do you know where they might be keeping him?”

 

“Well..” he tried to speak, but was again cut off by her.

 

“How are you going to get there? How many people do they have? Where are they positioned?” she fired out question after question, not letting Malik speak up, until he let out a deep sigh and threw his hands in the air.

 

“I don’t know!” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t know, but we have to save him.”

 

“We are.” the woman nodded, turning around and heading for their ship, motioning to the rest of the team to follow her. “Marchenko,” she put her hand to her ear. “Give me the enemy’s numbers and positions.”

 

_ “Right away.” _

 

“Kaines, ready the outline and schematics of the camp and bunker.” she turned to look at the woman speedily walking by her left. Kallista nodded, pulling out her touchpad on their way back, trying to focus on bringing up the holo images and keep her mind straight and on the task ahead. There was a part of her that couldn’t help but stress over the situation. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He never got caught. 

 

The light flickered inside the ship, Lyudmila heading straight for the small control table at the back, Kallista following close by and pulling up the three dimensional map of the enemy base, the blue glow illuminating the room further, casting harsh shadows of the older woman’s face as she leaned over the table. Red dots started appearing on key location, Aleks, talking the team through their movements and routine Everyone stood there, listening and evaluating the place they would have to traverse in order to find they leader.

 

_ “I managed to track down, Reyes’ location. The chip in his armor is still active.”  _ he said, a green dot blooming in the lowest level of the bunker. The entire place looked like an inverted pyramid. Three major levels, with big hallways, full of guards and blocked off stairs, leading further down. Lyudmila took a step back, eyes still trained on the map, studying it. She looked at the watch on her wrist and back at the map, before clearing her throat and turning around the face the rest of the team

 

“Alright.” she started. “We need to get to the bunker unnoticed. Everyone will hold fire until we get there. After that we split into three teams.” she turned back to the map and motioned for everyone to look. “Team one is me, McCree and Bustillo. We get in and engage the enemies, distract them enough for teams two and three to get to the next level.” she traced the path of hallways to the stairs. 

“Team two - Ramos and Birro. Same deal - engage and distract. Team three - Kaines and Nguyen, you two get to the last level and find your way to Reyes. While you’re doing that the rest of us will make our way down as well. Clean out every floor.” for a moment, the shadows on her face turned harsher, as she leaned over to cast a sweeping glance to the group. “No prisoners. No survivors.”

 

“Alright.” Natalie nodded, looking at Kallista. “We’ll get him out.”

 

“Good.” Lyudmila turned away, walking towards the other end of the ship. “Prepare quickly, we leave in five.” with that she unshouldered her sniper rifle, placing it in the holder and discarded the long dark camouflage poncho she was wearing. Opening a drawer, she picked out an assault rifle and some ammunition, before reaching up to her earpiece. “Homebase, I want you to keep me informed of everyone’s status at all times.”

 

_ “Roger.” _

 

“There’s no room for reckless mistakes right now.” she said to the team, deep into their own preparations. “Anyone gets hurt - you tell me. If not - you sit on the sidelines. Got that?”

“Got it.” the voices echoed through the ship and Lyudmila let out a deep breath, glancing down at her watch again.

 

“It’s time.” she said, heading for the door everyone following suit. She watched them exit one by one, but when Kallista came through she placed a hand in front of her to stop her.

 

“What?” the woman looked up. There was a certain look of nerves that painted her face, and Lyudmila wanted to say something to ease her stress, but wasn’t sure if it was her place. Sure, she often teased Gabriel about their relationship, friendly jabs and pokes about his “crush” on the pretty intel director, but she could always tell that it was much more than that. And she could see on Kallista’s face it was much more for her as well. Even after all these years, she could still vividly remember that fear of losing.. She could see it, poking through the woman’s focused demeanor. 

 

“Here.” she said, detaching one of the pouches from her belt and handing it to Kallista. She opened to see three syringes in it. Adrenaline cocktails, Lyudmila often used as a last resort on the field.

 

“You guys need it..” she started but was interrupted.

 

“Make sure you get there in time.” Lyudmila shook her head, before pulling the fabric of her gray turtleneck over her mouth and nose. “Let’s go.” she nodded towards the group. Kallista, closed to pouch, attaching it to her belt, before reassuming that hyperfocused look she had before and went to join the team. 

  
  


By the time they had reached the outlines of the camp, dusk had fallen, covering everything in shadow, perfect for sneaking in unnoticed. 

 

“After we get in, until we meet at the bunker, it’s radio silence.” Lyudmila said, looking at a few guards walking around the premises. “Hold fire, until then. You come across someone - take them out quietly. We don’t want to be noticed until we get in.” she gave her last instruction before shouldering her rifle and entering the camp.stalking ahead, walking fast, keeping her feet light, her back to the closest building as she motioned with one hand for everyone to follow. The group dispersed, taking different routes, weaving between the small buildings.

 

She was almost ready to turn the corner, when she heard someone heading her way. She took a step back, flat against the wall behind her, one hand reaching for the knife on her hip. A guard walked by her, a moment before turning to see her, a hand clasped over his mouth and he was being pulled back, flush against a warm body, his head into someone’s hard shoulder. Lyudmila could feel his jaw crushing under the pressure of her metal fingers, as she swiftly plunged the knife into his throat, drawing a line across his neck. She slunk down to the ground, as he struggled for a last few seconds, before she let him rest onto the dirt, silent and bleeding out.

  
  
  


The rest of the group were making their way to the bunker entrance as well. She saw the distant faint glow of Kallista’s gauntlets on her left. The crack of bones, as Natalie snapped a guard’s neck and then ran off into the shadow of another building. They were doing good so far, it seemed no one had noticed their presence yet. Sweeping in under the veil of night, making their way towards the central building, avoiding the spotlights of the towers. There was a part of her that felt a certain sense of pride, as everyone executed their tasks with precision, but it was no time for distractions. 

 

As she reached the bunker, she patiently followed Kallista with her eyes, as she got there a few moment after, silently understanding Lyudmila’s gesture to get the passworded door open. It was a simple crack, and the large metal entrance moved away just in time for the rest of the team to gather up. They walked in, quietly one by one, taking in the area and sliding into cover behind shelves stocked with medical supplies and tech. 

 

“Marchenko, what’s the enemy’s positions?” Lyudmila put her hand to her earpiece as soon as the last person to enter, Malik, had closed the door.

 

_ “This hall is clear. We have accessed their security cameras.”  _ Aleksandar answered from the other side of the line. She could hear the clicks and clacks of the other two intel agents working beside him.  _ “When you turn right, you will meet seven armed guards. There are labs on both sides, we can see people working there, but they seem to have weapons as well.” _

 

“How many in total on the way to the stairs?”

 

_ “At least twenty, Lieutenant.” _

 

“Alright, keep me posted.” she nodded, taking her rifle in hands. “Ramos, I want you to seal that door.” she nodded back to the entrance. “New passcode, whatever you see fit. No one gets in and no one, but us, gets out.”

 

“Got it.” he said, turning back, the dripping blade in his hand disappearing as he went to fiddle with the console. 

 

“Regroup after.” Lyudmila turned to Jesse at her side next. “Get a flashbang ready.”

 

“What’s the plan here?” he asked, taking out one of the grenades from his belt.

 

“We engage, make noise, get everyone on us.” she said, walking slowly towards the right turn. “When Ramos is ready, we make a distraction for teams Two and Three to pass through to the next floor.”

 

After another confirmation from the team, they headed for the turn in the hallway. Slowly, quietly, until they rounded the corner. The first shot came out from Jesse, as a he quickly took one guard down and went to duck behind a storage shelf. Lyudmila and Hayden followed close behind, finding somewhere to hide themselves in the spacious corridor as it filled with the sounds of screams and gunfire. It all quickly turned to chaos, albeit somewhat controlled one, with someone yelling orders from one side and Lyudmila from the other.

 

Kallista stayed by her side, waiting for the signal to make a run for it. Malik hadn’t came yet and she was starting to feel her nerves tighten. Every second lost was a second keeping them away from rescuing Gabriel. Lyudmila’s voice seemed to be right in her ear, telling everyone what to do, but not her. At one point, the woman’s hand had come to press her shoulders into the wall as she tried to get out of cover and join the fire.

 

“No.” she said, her eyes still focused on the ensuing battle. “I can’t risk it. I need you unharmed.”

 

“I need to do something.”

 

“You will.” Lyudmila nodded, her hand going up to her ear again. “Ramos, where are you?!”

 

_ “Coming!” _

 

With Malik’s arrival, she turned to Jesse again, as he was anxiously reloading his revolver. “McCree, ready flashbang! Bustillo keep them occupied!” she called out, pulling out a grenade from her own belt. “Team Two and Three, on my mark!” The hand that was keeping Kallista in place, retracted as she threw the grenade over their cover, and there was a moment before a brief flash of light erupted, the small cluster of enemies being lifted in the air, colliding with the ceiling. “Go!” Lyudmila yelled, and the four ran off into a dash, through the confusion, following the hallway towards the staircase. 

 

Kallista heard more yelling and the bang of Jesse’s grenade behind her, before the gunfire resumed.

 

“Come on.” Natalie leveled with her as they were descending down the stairs to the next floor and closer to their target. Lyudmila’s voice was still present, in her ear, intercut with pauses and muddled by the sounds of shots.

 

_ “Draw them out!”  _ she said, before a pause and the sound of something hard hitting into a wall and the crunch of bones cracking.  _ “Ramos, smoke them and give Team Three a window to run, when it’s time!” _ another break, and a groan was heard, before she resumed speaking.  _ “Marchenko, keep us updated!” _

 

It was all chaos again so quickly, the moment they stepped into the next hallway a fury of bullets going for them, as they ran for cover. Kallista could hear the drums of her heart in her ears, but the mission ahead would not allow her to let the beats distract her. They had to get to him in time. The small pouch Lyudmila gave her, hanging to her tigh as a reminder this wasn’t one of their assaults, when they came down like a pack of unforgiving old testament angels, it was a rescue mission. 

  
  


“What do you mean, you lost signal?” the red haired woman stared back at the man in front of the wall of monitors, all of them showing nothing but static. He let out a faint sigh, before turning in the chair to face her, the end of something long and sharp painfully connecting with the middle of his chestplate. 

 

“Aah!” he jumped slightly at the hit.

 

“My apologies.” the woman smiled, retracting her weapons and taking a step back. “Please, explain?”

 

The soldier took a careful glance up to her. The was a part of him that felt like this was a trap, the Duchess’ volatile temper was known throughout Talon and h really didn’t want to find himself t the end of her lash. But he swallowed hard and nodded.

 

“Someone is.. Someone is blocking our signals” he said, turning for a moment towards the static screens. “Someone from outside.”

 

“And you can not fix this?” she arched an eyebrow.

 

“No, miss. But.. I am trying.”

 

“It’s a shame.” the woman let out a sigh, turning away, the pointed end of her cane scraping the floor as she walked. As she was about the speak again, a strangled chuckle interrupted her from the other side of the room. She turned to face the noise and cocked her head to the side. “You have strange sense of humor, mister Reyes.”

 

Gabriel shook his head. The gag on his mouth prevented him from talking, but even with it his smug smile was still evident, even through the tired and pained expression on his face. 

 

“Please.” she waved him off. “I gave you a chance to talk, you should’ve taken it then.” she walked over to his side, taking a knee by him. “But I know what you’re going to say.” she smiled. “You’ll say that your team is coming. That they are going to end me and flatten this place like you’re known to do.” the Duchess twisted around to take a seat on the ground next to him, leaning her shoulder on his, making him let out a slight hiss at the contact. 

 

“That’s wonderful, you know? The confidence you have in them. How loyal you’ve trained your dogs to be.” she cast a glance towards the soldier in front of the monitors. “Very rare, very valuable. Loyalty is hard to buy. At least long-lasting loyalty.”

 

“But, let me tell you this.” she leaned closer to him, her breath on his neck. “They are not going to make it to you. This level is impregnable. They’ll die before they reach this room.” she looked around the steel walls of the room. “Well, most of them. I have different plans for the ugly bitch. The rest..”

 

“Miss..” the soldier at the computer started.

 

“The rest will paint my walls re..”

 

“Miss Vescovi?” he called after her again.

 

“What?” she turned sharply to face him. “What have I said about interrupting me?”

 

“But..”

 

“No no!” she stood up, walking towards him. “What.. have I said about interrupting me?”

 

“That it’s bad manners?”

 

“Yes, exactly.” she nodded, taking her cane in both hands, as the man’s face turned pale. “Oh, fine, don’t give me that look.” he rolled her eyes. “You have my permission to speak. What is it?”

 

“I.. I managed to get the visuals back from one of the cameras.” he said, voice still a bit shaky as he pointed at the monitor to his left. “Two of the intruders have reached the hallways on this level.”

 

“Where are the others?” the Duchess asked, her hands gripping the cane hard, as her knuckles turned white. 

 

“I can’t get the other cameras back, miss, but..” he shook his head, biting his lower lip for a moment. “No one from the upper levels is answering.”

 

“Cazzo!” the cane hit the ground hard, leaving a dent in the metal flooring. “I should speak to Ogundimu about this. His hiring practises have really started to slack as of late. You people are useless.” she hissed at the soldier, who flinched before slowly turning back to his work on trying to regain his control over the facility's systems. “Is there time to activate Protocol Nine?”

 

“No, miss, I’m sorry. They are almost here.” the man shook his head.

 

Duchess’ cane hit the floor again, as she paced around the room for a while, cursing under her breath, her calm and composed demeanor she had kept all throughout her session with questioning Gabriel slipping away, making her seem much more her age than her measured tone would have suggested otherwise. Somehow in her loss of composure for the first time, since he was brought to her, he could see just how young she really was.

 

“My love.” she called out, turning to face the corner of the room, where a second woman had stood completely still and silently up until the moment she was addressed and took a couple steps forward and out of the shadow. “Seems like we have to do everything ourselves here. Please go out and take care of the vermin.” the woman in the corner nodded, turning towards the door. “I’ll take mister Reyes for a walk, you know where we’ll be going. After you’re done, join us.”

 

“Of course,” she said, curt and short and her voice flat. 

 

“And be careful.” Duchess cast her one last glance before picking up Gabriel to his unsteady feet and hitting a button on the wall to reveal a second door leading to a tunnel. “Please.” she added, staring the woman in black in the eyes.

 

“Of course,” the other woman repeated and left the room, following the hallway to meet with the two intruders outside.

  
  


_ “He’s moving!”  _ Aleks’ voice came through the commlink.  _ “Reyes. I can see him moving east!”  _

“What do you mean, he’s moving?” Kallista asked, as she ran down the smoked out hallway, still hearing the sounds of Malik and Hayden fighting on the level above them.

 

_ “Exactly what I said, his dot is moving east.”  _ he said again, and she could hear him typing away something and the slightly muted voices of the rest of the intel team as they were trying to keep track of Reyes’ whereabout while he was moving away from the bunker.

 

“Well, shit.” Natalie let out a groan. “He’s probably not alone, huh?”

 

“Unless they let him go.” Kallista nodded. “Which I doubt.”

 

The two women continued down the halls, turning the corner to the room where Gabriel had been previously kept, to be greeted by the poorly lit figure of a woman in black, standing right in front of the door like a guard. A large sword reflecting the small light coming from the red light behind her. Kallista jumped back around the corner, keeping her back flat on the wall and pulled Natalie with her.

 

“We don’t have time, Kalli, they’re taking him someplace else.” she said, but the hacker shook her head and went to take a peak again. The figure seemed familiar to her. She had seen this woman before. 

 

The large intricately designed sword, the black coat, the long dark hair. She remembered a mission that took them near a bay, tall buildings, a red-haired woman coming out of nowhere, fighting Gabriel and a figure dressed in black, gazing down on them from the top of an industrial building as Lyudmila’s scream filled the silence between two thunder strikes. That was her. Even in the poor lighting she could recognise her cold, motionless expression.

 

“Wait!” Kallista, put her arm in front of Natalie. “That’s the one that almost killed Lyuda.”

 

“I know. I got this.” the other woman noted rubbing her hands together. “I’ll get her away from the door, you get in and follow Gabe, yeah?” Natalie took a moment to blow between her palms, before jumping out of their cover. She stood there, the woman in black, her sword in hand, not moving. Listening, waiting, only her eyes flicking around the corridor. There was a moment, an unheard beat, before she quickly stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the blazing fireball that flew towards her face, managing only to catch the ends of her hair and singe them. She looked up, to see Natalie standing a few feed infront of her. The grip on her sword tightened.

 

“Come here, Evanescence. It’s pretty cold down here, let me warm you up a bit.” she smirked and then lunged forward. “Evanescence” followed suit, running to meet her and preparing her sword for a strike. But it did not manage to hit, Natalie was too fast, sidestepping away from the trajectory of the blade and delivering a fast kick to the woman’s midsection that had her double over with the air escaping her lungs. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Natalie chuckled, grabbing her hair and slamming her knee into her face, blood almost instantaneously spurting out of her sure to be broken nose. “I’m not that easy to kill.”

  
  
  


The woman growled in anger, jerking away, a large clump of hair remaining in Natalie’s hand as she tore away and swung her sword towards her again. It did not meet its mark again, as the other woman was quicker, a hand pushing the width of the blade away. “Like I said..” she smiled, cracking the knuckles on both her hands. “I am not easy to kill.”

 

Kallista watched as the two danced around, trading blow and avoiding each other’s strikes. Waiting for her opportunity to get to the door. An anxious feeling bubbling deep in her stomach as each moment seemed to pass by with a snail’s pace. Their time was running out, he was moving or, more likely, being moved somewhere else. She knew of Talon’s ways, a million possibilities of what they could possible be doing with him racing in her mind. Aleks had said he heard a woman say that they needed him for something. What did they need him for? 

 

She tried to push away those thought, focus on the mission ahead, just as she saw Natalie swing the woman and slam her head into the wall, pinning her there, if only for a moment. It was enough of a window, however, and she bolted for the door, expertly bypassing its locks and running inside. The large room was dark, lit mostly by the monitors in the middle. There was a man sitting there, who quickly turned around, stumbling to get up from his chair and unholster his weapon. Before he could do so, however, Kallista was already by him. One hand grasping at his throat, the other sparkling with electricity dangerously close to his face. 

 

“Where is he?” she asked, voice low and dark. The man didn’t answer at first, trying to pry himself free until she slapped his hand away and grabbed the gun from his belt, tossing it to the other end of the room. “Where did he go?”

 

“I just do surveillance..” the man started, choking on his own words, as the hand around his throat tightened. “There..” he coughed out, pointing at a large clear wall. “It’s a door.”

 

“How do I open it?”

 

“Button.” he said, nodding towards a small hole in the corner. 

 

“Where does this lead to?”

 

“Ï don’t know.” the electric gauntlet inched closer to his face. “I don’t know! I swear! The Duchess didn’t want us to know! Please!”

 

“Duchess?” Kallista rose an eyebrow. Is that what they called her in Talon? 

 

“Yes.” the man nodded vigorously. “Yes. She took him with her. Through there.”

 

“I’m not a very forgiving person, if you’re lying,”

 

“I’m not! I’m not!” he said, almost panicking. “I promise. I just do surveillance. Only surveillance. Please..”

 

Kallista let out a growl, before slamming the man’s head into the desk, knocking him out, before continuing on her way to the hidden door. The press of the button opened it with a hiss and revealed a huge, dark tunnel and immediately she dashed into the darkness. . She could hear the echo of heels and someone being dragged coming from the other end of it. Turning on the stealth of her suit, she quickly stalked her way to a support beam, quinting as she gazed ahead into the darkness. Managing to make out two figures in the distance.

 

“Atticus?” she heard a woman’s voice come in, as she inched closer and got a better look. That was her. The woman with the red hair, Duchess as the Talon operative had called her. She had turned around, trying to make out anything in the dark tunnel, as she held onto the almost sagging body of Gabriel by her side. She didn’t look very well. His hands were bound behind his back, his mouth covered by a metallic clasp. There was a large gash on his forehead, and she could see multiple slick spots on his clothes, stained with blood.

 

“My love, we’re here, come on!” the woman called out again, right before Kallista came out of hiding.

 

“She’s not here.” she said, pulling out the pistol on her hip. A wild look appeared in the woman’s face, as she pulled Gabriel in front of her self like a shield. 

 

“You try to shoot me, you shoot him.” she spat out. “Where’s Atticus?”

 

“She’s busy at the moment,” Kallista narrowed her eyes, as she stepped closer, dropping her gun on the grown. So that’s how she wanted to play this.

 

“What did you do to her?” the woman snarled, her hold on Gabriel tightening as her eyes darted behind Kallista.

 

“Hand him over.”

 

“What did you do to Atticus?!”

 

“Atticus? Is that who that is?” Kallista smirked. 

There was a certain sense of dread in the Talon agent’s voice that gave her confidence, made her want to be cruel, just like they had been. She could scare her more, make her slip up. “I did nothing. But my friends.. I can’t say what they will do to.. What did you call her? Your love?”

 

The woman growled, tossing Gabriel to the ground and surged forward, a slight glimmer at her side, telling Kallista she had taken out her weapon. She remembered that threatened metal whip, back on the mission they had first encountered the duo, and she quickly moved out of its trajectory, as it hit right where she had been standing a second ago, digging deep indents into the concrete with sparks flying off at the friction. 

 

“Where is she?!” the redhead screamed as she swung around ready for another strike, but was interrupted by a boot to her midsection, making her stumble backwards. 

  
  
  


“Hand him over and I’ll tell you.” Kallista said, as she slammed her knee into the woman’s face. She had no knowledge of what exactly was happening with the girl Natalie was fighting, but as long as the so called Duchess thought she did, she had a leg up on her. She could see the anger growing on her bloodied face as she picked herself up. She was getting more reckless the more she thought her partner was in danger. 

 

“If you hurt her..” she started, wiping the blood of her face with her sleeve. “I’ll ruin you.”

 

“You don’t even know who I am.” Kallista chuckled, as she swung behind her, grabbing one end of her whip and wrapping it around the woman’s throat, but not before she had put a hand under it, giving it slack.

 

“I’ll find out.” Duchess spat out, wriggling in the hold. “I’ll find out and..”

 

“I am afraid you won't find a thing.” the other woman shook her head, turning as she held onto the whip and using it to swing the redhead over her shoulder to the ground. 

“But I know lots about you, Miss Vescovi, heiress to the Solare Corporation, daughter of..”  she did not manage to finish her sentence however, as the mention of her name seemed to bring new anger and she jumped up almost immediately, discarding her weapon and delivering a hard kick to the middle of Kallista’s back. 

 

“Then you should know to fear me.” she snarled, grabbing her hand and twisting it behind her back. She took a moment to observe the logo on her shoulder. “I  _ own _ the media. One word and your organisation could be in the gutter.” she said, running forward and pushing Kallista into the wall of the tunnel. “Now tell me, where is Atticus?” she breathed into her ear, rubbing the woman’s forehead into the rough material of the wall, scraping up her skin. “Tell me!” she yelled.

 

“Fuck you” Kallista said through gritted teeth and using her feet she pushed the two of them away with a force, that had them both land on the ground, Duchess’ body managing to cushion her fall. She turned around, straddling her and grabbing her hair to slam the back of her head into the ground a few times, before getting up and attempting to run to Gabriel.

 

She did not make it to him, a hand grasped around her ankle bringing her back to the ground and Duchess crawled over to her discharged whip, cracking it once, making it resume its cane form again, before going back to Kallista and bring the pointed tip at her head. She was fast enough to manage to move out of the way, however, nudging to the side and taking the opportunity to grab the other woman’s arm and bring her down to wrap her legs around her neck, locking her in place.

 

The woman struggled, trying to release herself of the hold, but to no avail, until she regained control of her weapon. In a second she held it by the end, driving the pointed end into Kallista’s hip. She yelled out at the pain, releasing the hold, her hands flying to the fresh wound on her leg, while Duchess stood up and ran back to Gabriel, picking him up from the ground and pulling him towards a gap in the wall.

  
  
  


“Shit..” Kallista cursed, one hand pressing on the wound, as the other searched around her belt to find the pouch Lyudmila had given her. She managed to pull out a syringe and inject herself, just as she heard the sound of car tires behind her. “Shit!” she repeated jumping up, as the adrenaline from the injection flowed through her body and she ran towards the noise.

 

She saw a car being to pull out of the gap, with the redhead behind the wheel. She could see the foot of Gabriel’s boot propped by the window of the back seat. 

 

“They’re on the run!” she put a hand to the commlink in her ear, before taking off running after the vehicle. 

 

_ “They’re on the run! ”  _ Kallista’s voice came to Natalie’s ear as she narrowly avoided another slash from the woman in black’s sword. The message caught her off guard, as the blade managed to leave a deep gash into her forearm. 

 

“Fuck.” she cursed. She didn't have the time to keep playing around here. The woman had swung the sword again towards her, but Natalie caught it, right between her palm. “No more games.” she said, as she hands began to glow and the metal of the blade heated up. The other woman tried to pull her weapon from her grasp, but even if she had been strong enough to do so, Natalie had tired her out quite a lot. Dancing around her, avoiding her blows. In a matter of moment the metal began glowing bright orange, the heat coming from Natalie’s hands managing to travel all the way up the length of it and the woman in black dropped it with a wail, looking at her burned and bleeding hands. She was too distracted to notice Natalie’s leg coming right at the side of her head and she was flung into the wall, falling to the ground, unconscious. 

 

“I’m coming!” Natalie said over the comm and ran into the room, following the open door in the wall into the large tunnel.

  
  


The car hadn’t picked up speed yet as Kallista caught up to it, jumping on the roof and holding onto the edge of the window. The woman at the wheel noticed that Kallista had jumped onto the roof and was bent on getting her off the car, she swerved to the side in an attempt to get her off, but her grip was firm. She managed to get herself to the hood of the car, keeping her grip and slammed her foot into the front window, a spiderweb of cracks appearing where her kick had landed. She kicked again, the glass shattering and she jumped inside to the passenger seat, immediately grabbing Duchess’ hands to try and take over the wheel.

 

“Get out!” the woman yelled, trying to blinding punch at her, her eyes keeping on the road ahead as the car picked up speed. Kallista said nothing, continuing her assault, until she managed to get a handfull of her hair, bashing her head into the window of the door next to her and then bring bashed her head hard into the steering wheel, knocking Duchess out cold, as the car raced ahead. 

 

“Fuck..” Kallista let out a sigh, climbing her way to the backseat, where Gabriel laid. “Come on.” she said, swinging his arm around her neck and kicking open the door. “On three.” she nodded and counted down before jumping out with him. They rolled off, colliding with the wall, as the car with Duchess inside continued to speed further into the tunnel.

The first thing she did after she managed to collect herself was to prop him up to lean on the wall and remove the gag from his mouth. 

 

“Gabriel...” she said, her hand gently grasping the sides of his face. “Gabe are you with me?”

 

“Hey, gatita..” he slurred out, his eyes barely managing to stay open, but there was a small, pained smile on his face. “You saved me, I..”

 

“Shhh..” she shook her head, reaching into the pouch again to pull out another adrenaline cocktail and inject it into his though. “Keep your strenght.” she said, placing a small kiss on his temple. She could hear the sound of boots from the end of the tunnel she came from and Natalie’s voice calling for her. 

 

“We’re here, Natalie!” she yelled out, leaning her back on the wall and pulling Gabriel into her lap, momentarily forgetting around the gash in her thigh. “I got him!” she let out a deep breath, gently wiping the blood of his face. 

“I got him.” she said again her fingers ghosting over the wounds on his face, as they stood there, waiting for Natalie to catch up to them. 

 

The rest of the team was not too far behind. Jesse and Lyudmila quickly took Gabriel from Kallista’s hands, letting her lean into Natalie for support as she watched them almost carry him out of the bunker. She could hear Lyudmila scolding him on their way back to their transport. “What do I always say? Don’t die stupidly. I never expected I’d have to say that to you though.” She could laugh, but her mind was occupied with other things. 

 

When they got in their ship, she excused herself and locked herself in the cargo hold for a moment, where she finally let all the stress of the situation wash over her. She saved him. She had come so close to losing him. His look when she finally got him out of the car, the pained smile on his face.. It felt somehow different. Different from all other smiles he had given her. She had a feeling it meant something. He was trying to tell her something before he interrupted her. What was he trying to tell her?


End file.
